Category: Indie-Folk

Recommended If You Like: The Head and the Heart, Lumineers, Fleet Foxes, Vance Joy

… And I’m too afraid to be alone

At its core, attraction is a wondrous thing. How many stimuli have that kind of physical and emotional control over the individual? To be moved so vividly by someone else that your behavior changes in their presence; to feel that strongly about another human being; it’s natural, and yet it often feels totally unnatural. Attraction is as powerful as it is beautiful, an overwhelming sensation that Driftwood capture perfectly in their new song “Too Afraid.”

Oh am I falling for your lies againFalling for your lies again
But you look so damn good

If I look into your eyes againLook into your eyes again
Well it feels like going home

Listen: “Too Afraid” – Driftwood

City Lights – Driftwood

.A song about falling uncontrollably hard for someone else, “Too Afraid” focuses on the fatal attraction experience: “Sometimes there are women that strike your fancy to the point where you lose a bit of yourself,” explains Joe Kollar (vocals/banjo).

It’s also easy to lose oneself in Driftwood’s music. The band pulls upon a pastiche of warm American roots and folk influences, landing somewhere in-between The Head and the Heart and The Lumineers in terms of sound, while offering a fresh, if not timeless perspective on the individual experience through harmonious music and lyrics. The group’s instrumental arrangement – which consists of Dan Forsyth on guitar and vocals, Joe Kollar on banjo and vocals, Claire Byrne on fiddle and vocals, and Joey Arcuri on bass – might be considered ‘traditional,’ but they wield their instruments with polished grace. In a music landscape where electric so frequently replaces acoustic instrumentation, Driftwood’s music provides an anchor to a past that is still very much the present.

“Too Afraid” opens with a sweetly seductive interaction between fiddle and bass, where the fiddle plays a hypnotic, repeating arpeggio sequence over punctuated bass hits. The combined effort is light, yet incredibly evocative: In a sense, it’s the perfect backdrop for a personal story. “Oh am I falling for your lies again,” sings Kollar as the verse opens. His words are raw and humble, his demeanor vulnerable as he places this interest over himself. That elevation of another, and the subsequent submission and reduction of oneself, becomes especially resounding in the chorus and second verse:

But I’m too afraid
Yes I’m too afraid to be alone

You talk like you should be my friendTalk like you should be my friendSo tell me what it is that you want

Oh am I losing all my lines againI’m losing all my lines againBut you look so fucking good

In his explanation of this song, Kollar notes that “Too Afraid” is, for him, about “the power of a beautiful woman,” but the song is obviously so much more than that. “I’m too afraid to be alone,” he sings. Sometimes we know something is bad for us, but we want it anyway. Loneliness is one of the hardest to cope with – so perhaps that special someone isn’t right for you, but at least it’s something. Rather than explore the intricacies of that mess, Driftwood stick to the surface and leave the diving to the listener.

“I think everyone knows someone (close or distant) that makes them weak in the knees and maybe act differently as a result,” says Kollar. Those who have known love, and perhaps more so those who have known a truly fatalattraction, can easily relate to Driftwood’s lilting melodies and uncertain, scrambling lyrics. It doesn’t matter who you are, or how confident you might appear. Every Samson has his Delilah.

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The second full-length from Asheville, North Carolina’s River Whyless further confuses labels of folk and indie, securing a region of their own that’s part folk-rock, part traditional folk, and part artful singer/songwriter commune, sometimes sounding as if Joni Mitchell and Punch Brothers got stranded together in a remote cabin with some decent recording equipment (“One for One,” “Bend Time”). The band occasionally wander into relatively poppier territory, as well, on We All the Light (“Falling Son”), but never forsake their acoustic core. Regardless of tempos or volumes, the full set is marked by creative yet refined arrangements that are by this point a distinguishing characteristic of the group.

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new EP from acclaimed North Carolina indie folk artist Matt Townsend entitled “The Drifter and the Dream part 1”.
The Drifter and the Dream (Part I) is the first installment of a two-part EP series. It features some of Western North Caroli-na’s finest musicians, such as Bill Berg (Drums on Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks) River Guerguerian, Kat Williams, Franklin Keel, Jackson Dulaney, Carly Taich, Charles Gately (Doc Aquatic), Ryan Burns.

The album was produced by Michael Selverne (Welcome to Mars productions) at Echo Mountain Recording Studios. With this new offering, Townsend has moved (mostly) away from the solo acoustic sound of his first two albums, and has developed toward a more eclectic, spacious sound. Drawing on influences from American folk, 60’s rock and pop, american indie rock, and ambient music, The Drifter and The Dream maps out a fresh avenue in his growing catalog.

Matt Townsend is performing with his band throughout the East Coast in support of this album. He has also launched a Kickstarter for the project.

Bio:
With his distinctive voice, and a world weary insight, Matt Townsend delivers his original songs, formed in the wells of Folk music, 60’s rock and pop, indie rock, ambient music and the American songwriting tradition.Live, his band flows from high energy rock and roll, to quiet folk tunes and back. Bob Dylan, Neutral Milk Hotel, Neil Young are counted among some of his musical guiding lights.

The Asheville, North Carolina-based musician has been performing across the country since 2012. 2016 marks the anticipated release of Townsend’s latest work, The Drifter and the Dream (Part I), a five-track EP, which is part one of a double EP series. The songs were recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville with producer Michael Selverne (Welcome to Mars Productions), and features Bill Berg (The drummer on the Minnesota sessions for Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Cat Stevens, Leo Kottke). The first EP explores the personal relationship to social and political issues, spiritual connection, and humanness in a de-humanizing society. Along with recording and touring, Townsend is also the the founder of Eternal Mind Records, a new arts collective and record label in Asheville, NC.

In addition to recording his own album, Townsend was tapped to work with the Asheville Symphony for its latest release, The Asheville Symphony Sessions. Townsend’s song on the compilation, “For Now, We Are,” was arranged by Michael Bearden (Neil Young, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga).

CD: The Drifter and the Dream (part I)
Release date: December 2
Accolades:
Featured artist on the “Asheville Symphony Sessions” a collaborative record of 8 Asheville artists (including Steep Canyon Rangers and Lizz Wright) with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. http://ashevillesymphony.org/sessions/ , Also one of 3 artists who performed a sold-out show (1,000 cap club) with the Symphony for the release of this album.
Performed at LEAF Festival May and Oct 2015 and July 2016.
Will be playing the south Florida Folk Festival in January.
Opened for Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Big Thief, Ballroom Thieves, Family and Friends.
Toured the Eastern US playing over 180+ shows across the rom 2014-2016.
Joined Welcome to Mars Productions.
Founded Eternal Mind Records, a record label/arts collective based in Asheville. (www.eternalmindrecords.com)

Production:
All songs written by Matt Townsend (ASCAP)
Produced by Michael Selverne
for Welcome to Mars
Recorded by Julian Dreyer at Echo Mountain Recording, Asheville, NC.
Mixed by Michael Selverne and Julian Dreyer at Welcome to Mars, Asheville, NC
Mastered By Eric Boulanger at The Bakery

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Guitarist and composer William Tyler has been thinking about America for a long time in the aftermath of 2013’s loose, rambling, and beautiful The Impossible Truth, which referenced the country’s musical traditions and landscapes. Afterwards, he spent almost two years touring solo, driving back and forth across the country. In a short promo trailer for Modern Country he stated that, “The cultural geography of this vanishing America is what I sense as a slow fade on these long road trips….It still lives, even as the highways and the high rises push it to the fringes of the countryside and the static of the airwaves.” This album is his “love letter to what we’re losing in America. To what we’ve already lost.” He wrote the music in Oxford, Mississippi, recorded it in Eau Claire, Wisconsin with co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook, percussionist Glenn Kotche, and bassist Darin Gray, then finished it at home in Nashville. At the album’s heart lies a pervasive sense of loneliness and a longing for a home that exists only in memory. “Highway Anxiety” recalls Bill Frisell‘s roots music recordings from the ’90s, but the expansive sonic palette here, with reverbed electric guitars, droning synth, gospel piano, lap steel, Kotche‘s rolling snares, etc. are more panoramic and kinetic. “I’m Gonna Live Forever (If It Kills Me)” is built on a single acoustic country vamp that kaleidoscopically advances, plateaus, retreats, and begins again as each instrument engages and disengages. Blues and folk roots inform the album’s two hinge tracks: “Kingdom of Jones” was inspired by the Mississippi county that seceded from the Confederacy during the Civil War, while the wistful “Albion Moonlight” is titled after Kenneth Patchen‘s novel about an individual so unwilling to heed any but his own counsel, it proves his undoing. “Gone Clear” is built from intimate, shifting melodies offered in rounds toward a series of striking interlocking rhythmic patterns that point directly at Steve Reich‘s Electric Counterpoint: Different Trains with Pat Metheny. Kotche‘s range of percussion instruments (bells, marimbas, low toms, etc.) provide the guideposts for the dynamic changes. Closer “The Great Unwind” commences as a melancholy, nostalgic, country waltz. Its circular theme is articulated by sweetly played melody from reverbed guitar accompanied by bass, drums, and piano. Guitar feedback and noise are stacked on top until it vanishes under their weight. A short silence is interrupted by singing birds who introduce a new harmonic line, one that recalls the iconic vamp from Prince‘s “When You Were Mine.” It too eventually fades, leaving only bird song to close the album. Modern Country is vast in scope and ambition, but tightly written and expertly arranged. The sprawl of motion, texture, and color is reined in by immense, emotive lyricism and dynamic group interplay, making this musical “letter” to his vanishing nation well worth repeated listening.

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It turns out that bearded gents Sam Beam of Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses were friends in their hometown of Columbia, South Carolina back before they were ever touring-bill companions or Sub Pop labelmates (mid- to late aughts), and well before they recorded a covers album together. Perhaps a studio collaboration was inevitable or even overdue given their amity, frequent path-crossing, and shared tastes and influences represented small-scale here on the 12-track Sing into My Mouth. The title is taken from lyrics in the opening track, “This Must Be the Place” by Talking Heads, a sign of the relative diversity to come, which bridges Sade, John Cale, El Perro del Mar, and Peter La Farge. The Talking Heads tune is a toned-down take with acoustic and slide guitars, bass, piano, accordion, and light percussion, representative of an album full of slide guitar-heavy arrangements that fall squarely within folky expectations. Versions most similar to the originals include Ronnie Lane‘s “Done This One Before,” ’70s U.K. band Unicorn‘s “No Way Out of Here” (better known via David Gilmore‘s cover), Spiritualized‘s “Straight and Narrow,” and fellow South Carolinians the Marshall Tucker Band‘s beautifully spare “Ab’s Song” — all folk-inspired or twang-leaning to begin with, and covered affectionately with Beam and Bridwell trading lead-vocal duty throughout the record. Most altered are the duo’s reworkings of the strings-supported, Brill Building-esque “God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)” by Sweden’s El Perro del Mar, which is slowed down here and given an earthy woodwind and guitar delivery; Sade‘s “Bullet Proof Soul,” which still sounds uniquely Sade despite a rootsy rearrangement; and Them Two‘s 1967 soul plea “Am I a Good Man?,” previously covered by Bridwell‘s Band of Horses and captured with enthusiasm on Sing into My Mouth by piano, reed instruments, electric guitars, bass, and percussion. Other songs include Bonnie Raitt‘s “Anyday Woman,” John Cale‘s “You Know Me More Than I Know,” and J.J. Cale‘s “Magnolia.” That kind of variety keeps things interesting, though none of the arrangements comes as a real surprise with the exception of the closer, “Coyote, My Little Brother” (later covered by Pete Seeger but recorded by its songwriter Peter La Farge in 1963), a yodeling, Native American-inspired lament that gets full dream pop treatment with Bridwell on lead. Still, the represented songwriters and the sequencing, which nimbly waltzes through 50 years of song selections beginning with a quirky new wave tune and ending with a howling cautionary ballad, are rendered with grace. Those attracted to the collaboration’s premise will very likely appreciate its results.

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On their follow-up, Strange Trails, Lord Huron settle into the Western themes and sense of open prairies that marked the band’s debut, Lonesome Dreams. Frontman/songwriter Ben Schneider fully embraces the American West/Troubadour character, illustrated even in song titles like “Dead Man’s Hand,” “Meet Me in the Woods,” and “The Yawning Grave.” The album’s lyrics tell haunted stories of adventure and survival (“On the night you disappeared/Oh, if I had seen it clear/But a strange light in the sky was shining right into my eyes”), with nature imagery (“In a grave out here where the carrions cry”), and the occasional old-time turn of phrase (“Before I commence my ride/I’m asking Lily to be my bride”). With warm electric guitar sounds, soft and constant reverb, harmonized vocals, and a faint but persistent twang, it’s a contemporary, specifically Fleet Foxes-reminiscent, indie folk-influenced rock haunted by allusions to the Old West. Listeners may envision fringe and spurs without any overt country presence (though there’s certainly a subtle one) outside of lilting vocals, such as on “Way Out There.” The band still focuses more on atmosphere and haunting, harmonic sound and rhythm than on progressions or memorable hooks, but the landscapes that they create are consistent and sound-defining, and there’s no shortage of eerie beauty in the melodies. “The Night We Met,” in particular, has a lullaby quality to its wistful, singsong melody (“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do/Haunted by the ghost of you”). The record takes a few interesting musical routes on its journey: the reverbed rockabilly and surf sounds of “The World Ender,” the campfire-gathering feel of “Meet Me in the Woods” with handclaps and female vocal harmonies, and the pulsing, ramblin’ road tune “Frozen Pines” all contribute to an impression of timelessness as well as a certain folksiness befitting the album’s well-established rural themes. There are no big surprises here; fans of Lonesome Dreams will surely be pleased, and Strange Trails‘ serene ambience and unconventional narrative may capture the imagination of inclined first-timers.

Described as everything from indie-roots to chamber-folk, West My Friend has an acoustic blend of instruments and four-part harmonies that challenges the conventions of popular music. The band features pure and thrillingly elastic vocals with catchy arrangements of bass, guitar, mandolin, and accordion that draw from jazz, classical, folk, and pop influences. Inspired by artists such as Owen Pallett, Joanna Newsom, Bright Eyes, The Decemberists, and the Punch Brothers, and forged from a sonically adventurous acoustic music scene on Canada’s west coast, West My Friend is proving to be a key part of a new generation of grassroots folk music.

The wealth of musical experience and classical training in the group creates an interesting backdrop for their songwriting, allowing for levels of detail, intricacy, and counterpoint balanced with moments of simplicity. Their diversity in taste and influences and a keen interest in both traditional sounds and innovation leads to constant exploration of new sounds that places them as a distinctive voice in the landscape between Canadian folk and indie-pop. West My Friend’s commitment to creating original indie-roots music, and their dedication to giving their audiences a meaningful and memorable experience, is sure to catch hold of listeners as they regularly tour through Canada, the United States, Europe, and beyond.

Quiet Hum, produced by Canadian mainstay David Travers-Smith (Wailin’ Jennys, Pharis & Jason Romero) is the third outing from West My Friend since the band formed at the turn of the decade. Its 2012 debut, Place, garnered several nominations, including “Roots Album of the Year” and “Song of the Year” at the Vancouver Island Music Awards. Its follow-up, 2014’s When The Ink Dries, was nominated for the Oliver Schroer “Pushing The Boundaries” Award at the Canadian Folk Music Awards and received the Readers’ Choice award for “Best New Sound of 2014” at Sleeping Bag Studios. With the release of Quiet Hum, the members of West My Friend build admirably on the body of work coming out of Victoria, Vancouver, and across British Columbia.

The Crane Wives are a home grown indie-folk outfit from Grand Rapids, Michigan. They utilize three-part vocal harmonies, eclectic instrumentation, and a passion for song-craft to create organic music that is both accessible and innovative. Each live show features contagious energy as well as original music that ranges from whisper quiet ballads to danceable grooves. The band formed in late August of 2010 and has released three full-length albums, “Safe Ship, Harbored” (2011), “The Fool In HerWedding Gown” (2012), and “Coyote Stories” (2015) with a fourth album “Foxlore”released April 2nd, 2016.

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Wilder Adkins’ songwriting gleans as much from the earthy poetry of Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver as it does from the works of folk luminaries Richard Thompson and Bruce Cockburn. He’s a true theosophical spirit, arrestingly taciturn, but possessed of startling guitar skills, a wit as dry as October leaves, and a tremulous, dented voice that cuts to the soul. His courtly-but-witty lyrics evoke a Deep South Shelley or Yeats, riding a joyful guitar dexterity.

Adkins hails from Marietta, GA, but now lives and writes in Birmingham, AL. He grew up listening to his dad play renditions of Neil Young and Van Morrison songs on an old Guild Jumbo Acoustic. Some time spent in India helped to expand his melodic sense and also provided a chance to learn Hindi. Adkins songs, steeped in natural imagery, frequently touch upon the subjects of faith, doubt, and as the title of his new album would indicate, hope and sorrow.

His video for “Our Love is A Garden” reflects his poetic spirit. Directed by New York-based filmmaker and photographer Marcus Tortorici, the video is starkly lit yet full of life. Nature, light, and darkness comingle and create a cinematic back-drop to his album’s first single.